To Walk On Empty Roads
by The Pencil Of The Gods
Summary: A girl considered a failure with no magic, and a land filled to the brim with it. The girl calls to the land and tries to pull a resident towards her, only to be pulled herself in return. Stranded in Gensokyo with no magic and no idea, for Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière of Tristain, this is an entirely new beginning. The question is: The beginning of what?
1. Prologue 1-2

Short golden hair whipped about in a wild frenzy, as waves of power rushed through its owner. She gritted her teeth as one most precious to her cried out for help.

"Ran-sama!"

Exerting more power through her nine tails, Ran Yakumo pulled as hard as she could. They wrapped around her familiar, one who was all but a daughter to her, and contended with the glowing green tendrils of pure energy that spawned from a portal behind her. At first, Ran had tried sealing the thing, but quickly discovered that the power behind it was enough to tear through even her best seals. Soon afterwards, all her power was diverted into preventing Chen from getting dragged into it.

She had no idea where it came from or what purpose it served, but _no one _was allowed to lay a hand on Chen without her permission, not even Yukari herself!

Speaking of her Master, right about now would be a very good time for her to awaken up and help her! The nine tailed fox had been struggling with the portal for over an hour now, and found that physical strength was proving fruitless in releasing Chen from its grasp, and she was slowly tiring. Her only option was to somehow be able to seal the thing, which had already proven to be beyond her abilities.

If it was her Master however, there was nothing she did not know about the sealing arts! If only she would wake up, then she would doubtless be able to contain the portal. If only –

"You know, I'm not sure whether to be glad or upset with you for not bothering to wake me up, Ran."

_Thank every god that ever was! _

The kitsune turned her head without losing her grip on Chen, and felt her chest lighten. "Master!" cried Ran. Walking calmly behind her was Yukari Yakumo, the Gap Mistress and one of the most powerful beings in all of Gensokyo, as well as one of its founders.

"I know I said to avoid waking me up if it wasn't important, and I love that you regularly and dutifully follow that order, but what made you think that I would not help you prevent your adorable cat from abduction?" Yukari shook her head, in exasperation. "It seems I need to program you better, if you don't even know when to inform me of such things."

Ran would have answered if only most of her attention was diverted to Chen. Yukari sighed and stepped right next to her, her eyes examining the portal and the appendages that sprung from it with keen interest.

"I see. Give me a moment, Ran, and I'll deal with this. For now, keep your tails on Chen and do not let go," said Yukari, though it was obvious that Ran would not let go no matter what.

Seconds passed and finally, Yukari stepped forward. "Bear with me for a second, will you Neko-chan? This will feel a bit weird."

Placing a hand on the nekotama's forehead, multiple seals sprung to life around her. In a flash of light, Chen was gone.

Naturally, Ran realized what Yukari was planning. Once Chen was gone, the Kitsune slackened her tail. Yukari turned towards the portal next and stuck her hand inside it. For awhile, it looked like the portal was rejecting her, and convulsed heavily, its tendrils snaking around her arm and gripping it with intense pressure. After a moment, however, it stabilized. The Gap Mistress gave a cold smile as her arm stretched out to the other side of the portal.

"Now, to exact some punishment for the one responsible for this transgression," she said, before tugging hard. Nothing came out or was in the grip of her hand, but Yukari smiled all the same. Whatever she wanted to accomplish, it had been done without error.

Several seals and a barrier formed around the portal, then broke apart as it slowly faded away slowly faded away. Finally and with a snap of Yukari's fingers, Chen was released from the seal placed on her.

It was an anticlimactic ending to an originally tense situation, but such was to be expected when Yukari Yakumo takes action.

"Aah, I hope whoever that was doesn't mind becoming youkai food."


	2. Prologue 2-2

For the people of Tristain, or more accurately, for the people of Halkegenia as a whole, magical ability was tantamount to one's place in society. It was understandable in as sense; in a land where magic was a noble art, those that where proficient in it could only be seen as more noble.

However, since this was true, it should stand that its inverse would also hold true: that those with little magical ability would be given a lower pedestal. Still, it was on a pedestal they were placed, because even the lowest noble was higher than the greatest commoners, as was decreed by Founder Brimir.

So what did that say about a noble with _no _magical talent at all? For Louise Françoise de la Valliere, the answer to that question came easily.

Born into one of the most powerful and influential families in Tristain, Louise was born into a world that expected much from her, and she was eager to meet those expectations, as befitting of a noble raised by the greatest Knight in the kingdom, Karin the Heavy Wind, the Duchess de Valliere who served as captain of the Manticore Knights, and of whom many legends are told. Louise's mother was her idol and everything she aspired to be, and despite the rigorous methods that Karin employed for her family, Louise loved her all the same, and aimed to make her proud with her accomplishments in magic.

It was therefore a blow more painful than any other when it was discovered that she could not even cast the simplest of spells.

*.*.*

Louise stood up and let out a shaky breath. Straightening her back, she looked over the summoning circle that she had painstakingly drawn to perfection. More so than any of her classmates, she could not afford to fail this.

The professor who oversaw the Summoning Ritual, Professor Colbert, spoke. "Very good Louise, now, if you would finish the incantation, we'll finally get to see how your familiar looks like. I'm sure it will be most impressive," he said, smiling encouragingly.

That was one of the reasons Colbert was her one of her favorite professors at the Academy. Unlike the majority of her teachers and students here, he would actually compliment and encourage without being backhanded or sarcastic about it. For some reason though, he always seemed to tread a thin line around her, which was kind of disappointing.

"Oh yes, I'm sure it'll be most impressive indeed," said a sharp looking blonde girl. "If she manages to get one at all, I mean."

"Shut your mouth! At least I don't wet the bed at my age, 'Flood'!" snapped Louise.

A blonde boy next to the indignant girl spoke up looking, pointing a finger at her. "Don't talk to Montmorency like that, 'Zero'! At least she's a proper mage, unlike _you_!"

"And I don't need to hear _lectures_ of propriety from a womanizer like _you_ Guiche!"

"W-what? How dare you insinuate –!"

"I'm not 'insinuating' anything, you hopeless fop! Everyone knows you shamelessly chase after every skirt you see!"

"Why you-! Don't talk about Guiche like that, you hopeless Zero, why are you even here among us nobles? Go back to the commoners you belong with!" At the comment, Louise flinched, and looked like she'd been slapped across the face. She bit her lip in frustration and was just on the verge of shouting at back when the Professor interrupted.

"Enough!" shouted Colbert, his voice magnified through the use of a wind spell. "Louise has kept silent throughout the entire time you all preformed your summons, and I fully expect you to extend the same courtesy to her!"

That shut them up quickly. Once again, Louise was grateful that Professor Colbert was the one in charge of the summoning. If it was Professor Chevreuse the old lady would have let the insults go on forever.

Nodding gratefully at the Professor, Louise stepped forward and raised her wand. It was time to begin her summoning. Take a deep breath and composing herself, she began the incantation for the spell.

"I am Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière."

_This will work._

"I call forth my servant, you who exist somewhere in this vast world!"

_It has to!_

"My divine, my powerful, my wise, beautiful servant, in the name of the great Five Pentagonal Powers . . ."

_No more. I am no longer going to be a Zero! I'll do whatever it takes!_

"And by the calling of my fate, heed my summoning!"

While the girl was chanting, a strong wind kicked up and blew around the circle. A flash of bright light appeared at its center and distorted, its brightness waxing and waning. The air began vibrating from the sheer power contained in the light, and several students began backing away as cracking sounds began echoing from the light.

Louise grit her teeth. She could feel it! This was her familiar! She poured more Willpower into her spell. She didn't care what she got at this point; she just needed to get _something! Anything!_

Whatever she was summoning, it was resisting her. She knew it instinctively. The summoning process shouldn't be taking this long. To her, that meant whatever she was summoning was powerful enough to resist the summons.

To Louise, all that meant was that it was powerful, and that it would be so much more worth it when she finally dragged its but across space and sealed the contract!

Suddenly, something snapped. The tenuous hold with which she confirmed the existence of the familiar disappeared and the bright light faded into nothing.

"W-what?" stammered Louise, unable to believe what had occurred. "What happened?"

One of the boys in the crowd called out: "Hah! Just like what we expected from you Louise, zero magic and zero success!"

_N-no!_

Montmorency huffed, as if she expected this to happen. "Well of course. I don't know what you expected to happen, Zero. Well be glad, at the very least it didn't explode this time."

_This isn't what was supposed to happen!_

"Ah, but wouldn't that mean she wasn't even capable of making even an explosion?" said Guiche. "Perhaps Zero's used up whatever actual 'magic' she thought she had?"

Several of her classmates laughed at this, with one of them saying: "Doesn't that mean she really is a commoner now?"

"What do you mean? Zero was always a commoner! You can't really call those stupid explosions of hers actual magic now can you?"

The chatter and biting laughter of the students around slowly and slowly got louder. Professor Colbert tried to silence them once again, but even with magic, his orders fell on deaf ears. Louise clutched her ears, desperate to make the noise go away.

_Why why why whywhywhywhywhywhyWHY!?_

This was her last chance to prove that she had magic, and she had failed. She was on the verge of bolting out of the court, when a hand covered in a silk glove appeared out of a dark hole in the air.

_What?_

That was the only thought Louise could managed before the gloved hand grabbed her and dragged her inside.

Everything afterwards seemed to happen in slow motion.

She could hear the gasps of surprise from her classmates, and some shouting that sounded like it came from Professor Colbert, who was running towards her, staff raised. Tabitha and Kirche seemed to be doing the same.

_How strange . . ._

Her thoughts muddled by the suddenness of what was going on, Louise final thought was that if this was a dream, she wished that she'd just wake up already.


End file.
